CHARGES DENIED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 February 1943, Page 4

CHARGES DENIED

NO DESERTION OF NEW ZEALAND IMPLIED IN AUSTRALIAN MILITIA BILL. DECLARATION BY FEDERAL PREMIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Rereived This Day, 11.55 a.m.) CANBERRA, This Day. “Charges made against me of having abandoned New Zealand in this Bill are totally untrue,” declared the Federal Premier (Mr Curtin), in the Militia Bill debate in the House of Representatives. The Bill passed all its stages this morning, and is now ready for presentation to the Senate. The Opposition hold a'majority in the Senate, and its fate there is uncertain. Considerable opposition to the Bill in its present form is expected when it reaches the Senate, probably next Wednesday. In the House of Representatives, an amendment attempting .to remove all statutory limits on the area of military service was heavily defeated, and other attempts to amend the Bill collapsed. “Representatives of the New Zealand Government came to Australia and met the Government and War Council,” explained Mr Curtin. “An Anzac theatre was drawn un, including New Zealand, New Caledonia and Fiji, but its northern limits were much further south than in the area defined by the present Militia Bill. It was the desire of the Australian and New Zealand Governments to have one theatre, but the north and north-west limits of the zone defined in the Militia Bill exceeded those which the Governments of the Commonwealtn and New Zealand drew up for submission. The United States Government desired a different kind of theatre, and as a consequence, without the wishes of New Zealand or Australia being accepted, a separation was effected. “We do not pretend,” added Mr Curtin, “to accept responsibility beyond the real measure of our capacity to discharge it, and in any event the boundaries of Militia service have been drawn by people with a greater responsibility for global strategy than myself. We have done our best for Australia and for the total cause.”